Metadata Best Practices Working Group

Current Situation

BISG's "Best Practices Guide for Product Metadata" has served as a flagship publication for almost 20 years. It was updated in 2015 to combine two separate editions, one for metadata senders, who are most often publishers, the other for metadata recipients, including aggregators, distributors, and retailers. Since that 2015 release, the U.S. and Canadian markets have moved to ONIX 3, and support for ONIX 2.1 and earlier versions has been discontinued.

Objectives

• Update the best-practices guide to focus on use of ONIX 3, archiving outdated references to functionality under ONIX 2.1
• Create and populate a restructured format that explains the principles behind the recommendations made as part of the best-practices document
• Surface questions raised in working group discussions to the metadata committee for consideration and feedback

Stakeholder Impact

Historically, this best-practices guide is the most frequently downloaded resource maintained by BISG. Keeping it up-to-date helps metadata users understand how to create and manage metadata effectively across the industry. The focus on ONIX 3 will give all users information about taking full advantage of the current standard. Shifting the focus from "What?" (the metadata requirement) to "Why?" (the principles that metadata senders and recipients are working to follow) will give all users the context needed to understand a complex set of metadata specifications.

Deliverables

• An up-to-date guide to best practices in creating, managing, and sharing book metadata
• A set of recommendations (best practice, recommended practice) formatted in a way that explains the principles behind those recommendations
• An archive of best-practice recommendations related to the prior version, ONIX 2.1, that is no longer supported by EDItEUR

Blockers

Between the working group and the committee, the work to update the best-practice guide is well-supported by people and organizations with the needed expertise. The most significant challenge for this working group is time. The existing best-practices guide is made up of several dozen sections with more than 250 pages of recommendations. The working group meets monthly, and the update will take most of 2025, if not longer, to complete, proofread, and publish.